It can take anywhere from 8 to 15 touchpoints before a sales team closes a typical B2B deal. If the deal is particularly complicated, the number of contacts can rise past 20.
The last thing you want is for your sales team to be wasting time, effort, and resources chasing dead deals or cold leads. However, the only way to stop forecasting deals that aren’t going to close is with proper pipeline hygiene.
Here’s everything you need to know so you can make the most of your healthcare sales team’s time and effort.
The Pipeline Illusion
Just about every B2B healthcare brand has been in this predicament: They have a pipeline that looks great on paper. It’s chock full of prospects in various phases of the conversion funnel. Upon closer inspection, however, it’s mostly filled with flimsy leads and stalled deals that probably won’t ever happen.
The healthcare space is especially susceptible to zombie deals that are still limping along, even though any hope of converting the prospect died months ago.
Why? B2B healthcare has long cycles and polite prospects who don’t want to burn bridges. You’ll rarely get an outright “We’re not interested” until you’ve wasted countless resources following up.
Why Healthcare Deals Stall (and Stay in the Pipeline Anyway)
Healthcare deals can stall out for a variety of reasons. Here are some common culprits:
- Changes in leadership
- Budget freezes
- Competing priorities
- Procurement delays
The trick is telling the difference between a deal that’s dead and one that has just slowed down due to a genuine issue.
The best B2B healthcare sales reps know how to persevere. That is what makes them successful. Unfortunately, many reps can’t tell the difference between a lost cause and a prospect that has had to pump the brakes while they reorganize.
The Four Signs a Deal Isn’t Progressing
If you think that a deal might be stalling out or dying before your eyes, look for these four red flags:
- You don’t have access to a true decision-maker
- Your contact isn’t providing a clear timeline for making a decision
- Several meetings or calls have been rescheduled without cause
- The person who previously championed your offering becomes disengaged
If you notice a single red flag, it may be worth putting the deal on ice for a few weeks and revisiting it later. However, if you observe several of these warning signs, the deal is dead. The sooner you acknowledge that fact, the sooner you can declutter your pipeline.
Building a Simple Qualifying Framework
You don’t need to implement a heavy, complicated methodology to keep your pipeline free of clutter. What you need is a consistent lens that your sales reps can apply throughout the journey. Think of it as a minimum standard for forward movement and continued investment in a prospect.
At each stage, and with each prospect, ask:
- Do we know who the decision-maker is?
- Have we engaged directly with them?
- Is there a defined problem the buyer has acknowledged?
- Has the prospect given us a realistic timeline to solve that problem?
- Do decision-makers agree on the value of solving the problem?
If the answer to any of these is “no,” the deal hasn’t earned the right to move forward.
How to Have the Requalification Conversation
The hardest part of pipeline hygiene is addressing weak deals without damaging your relationship with those prospects.
Don’t just push forward. Step back and ask direct, respectful questions based on your rapport with the contact. Being selective with your marketing efforts is another great way to prime prospects for a requalification conversation.
Sometimes, you can review deals later with better clarity. In other instances, you have to let them fall out of the pipeline.
What Good Pipeline Hygiene Does for Your Team
When you clean up your pipeline, the sales team may feel a bit uncomfortable. That’s normal; lower coverage is unsettling.
However, a more conservative outlook will lead to more accurate forecasting. While every team wants a full pipeline, that only helps if the prospects are real. When you declutter your funnel, you forecast better, and you sell better.
